The Twilight 25 - Round 8: Vampires, Werewolves, and Humans Oh my!
by idealskeptic
Summary: A collection of twenty-five flash fics, 300-500 words, that all relate back to Twilight in one way or another but do not relate to each other in any way. The goal? To write 25 fun, flashes using vampires and werewolves and humans just as Stephenie Meyer intended them. Challenge is to make them work with the photo prompts provided.
1. Road Trip Romance

**Disclaimer: **I don't own a bit of this.

**Author's Note: **These twenty-five flash fics will not be related in any way other than that they borrow Twilight characters from Stephenie Meyer. There's no AH, AU stuff here, really. Okay, maybe a little AU. But it's all going to be canon-ish couples and, most importantly, vampires and werewolves and humans... oh my!

I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: **#1**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Nessie/Jacob**

Rating: **T**

Word Count: **351**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~Road Trip Romance~~**

* * *

You wouldn't think that the backseat of a 1990 Volkswagen Rabbit would be comfortable for an extra-large shape shifter boy and his half-vampire girlfriend.

It's very comfortable.

That's what I decide as I curl up on the seat and Jacob wedges himself behind me. I don't actually need to be warm, or warmed up, but I like his body heat very much. When he produces an afghan from somewhere and drapes it over us, I'm officially in heaven.

Mom and Dad said we were crazy when we announced that we were driving from Maine to Forks to visit Grandpa Charlie and Billy and that we didn't intend to stay in any hotels along the way.

We may be crazy, but we're having fun.

No regrets and all that jazz.

"Ignore it," Jake mumbles against my back as my phone rings in the front seat. "It's your parents. Again."

"Okay, Alice," I tease, "but you know I can only ignore it once."

He shifts behind me and yawns. "Alice will see Charlie not frantic when we don't show up. She'll see us when your parents come move us in to UW. They worry too much."

I laugh and pull up the corner of the blanket to use as a pillow. "They love me. And they tolerate you."

He snorts and wraps an arm around my waist. "They should try a different word that starts with T, like trust."

"Does your dad totally trust Paul and Solomon to take care of your sisters?"

"Probably not, but you're not like my sisters. They don't really give a crap if he trusts Paul and Solomon. You, on the other hand, do your best never to disappoint your father."

"Got a problem with that, buddy boy?" I give a little snarl to make my point and he tickles my ribs in response.

He leans up just long enough to kiss my temple. "Go to sleep, half-human, before your father comes and kicks my tail into next week for keeping you awake."

I close my eyes and exhale deeply. "I love you, Jake."

"Love you too, Ness."


	2. Memories in a Box

**Wish I owned it.**

**A/N: **This picture prompt was a pile of Polaroid type photographs. Timeline-wise, canon-wise, this takes place… between Twilight and New Moon. I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: #**2**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Bella, Alice, Esme**

Rating: **T**

Word Count: **359**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Memories in a Box~~~**

* * *

I can't help but gape as Alice carries a towering stack of shoe boxes down the stairs. I'm pretty sure if she sets it on the floor it will be taller than she is.

"I thought we were looking at pictures," I say warily, "not shoes. You know I don't get excited about shoes, Alice."

"It's pictures, silly," she says as she sets the stack on the floor, and it is taller than her. "I don't have these shoes anymore. They're at least five years out of style. I'll be right back; I want to get my photo albums."

Esme sits down beside me when Alice disappears. She follows my gaze to the overwhelming number of boxes and sighs. "You're wondering why she needs so many photographs when she has a perfect memory." Since she doesn't ask it as a question, I let my silence be the answer. "Alice doesn't remember anything of her human years. She doesn't know why she lost that so she's terrified that she'll lose her memories again.

"Jasper saw that long before they came to us so he gave her a camera shortly after they met and told her to make photography her hobby. She knows, I'm sure, that he really meant that if she ever forgot again she could look at the photos and remember, maybe, but she calls photography her hobby."

Suddenly the pile of boxes doesn't seem so excessive and daunting. Instead, it seems heartbreaking and incredibly important at the same time.

When Alice returns with just six small photo albums and explains that they hold the most important pictures, I tell her that I'd rather look through a couple boxes first. It's easy to see that the albums are the pictures she'd show any nosy human who wants a glimpse of her life. I'd rather see the life she wants to remember.

She just looks at me at first and I wonder if I've picked wrong but then she gives me the most dazzling and still hesitant smile I've ever seen.

And we start with the box that holds the photos she took with the first camera Jasper gave her.


	3. Follow the Yellow Brick Road

**If I owned it I wouldn't be here. Truth.**

**A/N: **The picture for this prompt was a girl lying on the yellow line in the middle of the road. This little flash takes place between Eclipse and New Moon and involves Rachel and Billy Black. I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: #**3**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Rachel, Billy**

Word Count: **400**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Follow the Yellow Brick Road~~~**

* * *

"Following the yellow brick road?"

I shift my hands behind my head, because pressing your fingers into asphalt hurts, and exhale noisily. "These are lines of yellow paint on a road, Dad. No bricks in sight."

"You know what I mean, Rachel," he says as he wheels himself closer to me. "Remember how you liked that movie so much when you were a kid?"

"Yep, right up until Rebecca ripped the film out of my VHS tape."

"You got her back when you put her Barbie through the wood chipper." He laughs and I hear him put the break on his chair, since we are on a hill after all. "Your mother worried about you after you did that. I told her it was just sisters getting back at each other, not a serial killer in the making."

I laugh in spite of my pensive mood. "Thanks, Dad. Always could count on you to see things right."

He lets a minute pass before he speaks again. "Are you okay, honey?"

"Perfectly fine," I mutter, not even trying to hide my lie. "Why do you ask, Dad?"

He takes the break off and wheels himself close enough that he can reach down and pat my head. "Well, mostly because you're lying in the middle of the road. That and that you haven't said much since you saw Paul."

"You mean when he told me he's eternally bound to me?" I try not to scoff, cringe, or panic at the idea too much because I know it means something important to him. "It'll take some getting used to, Dad, but I guess I'll get used to it."

He sighs loudly and backs his chair up a bit. "Alright, then, I'll leave you alone. I only came over to check on you." He stops moving and clears his throat. "You're not trying to get run over, are you? Some people drive crazy around here."

I know they do, because my mother died not far from here. "Not trying to get run over, Dad," I assure him. "Leah said Paul would come by here when he gets back from patrol. I'm just waiting for him."

He's moving again but he stops long enough to tell me he loves me and that he's glad I came home.

I'll tell him that I love him too and that I'm sorry I haven't been home more. Soon.


	4. Bachelorette

**Don't own it, never shall.**

**A/N: **Picture prompt was the stage in what looked to be a bar, complete with classic band set-up. Timeline-wise? After _Breaking Dawn_? Good deal? Good!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **4**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Leah, Rachel, Emily**

Word Count: **377**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Bachelorette~~~**

* * *

"I'm kind of glad I didn't marry Sam," I yell in Rachel's ear, because yelling is the only way to be heard over the roar of too many drunken women in the bar.

"Why? Wouldn't you have had your bachelorette party in a dive bar with a no-name band?"

I shake my head and cringe at the thought. I'm no girly-girl but there are some things even I can't compromise on.

"Wait, Leah," she says, pinching my elbow to get my attention. "You're the maid of honor, which means you were supposed to arrange the party so why _are_ we here?"

I shrug and down half my beer because, you know, I'll be twenty-one soon enough and we're on the Makah rez so nobody ever checks ID, never mind the fact that my whacked body temperature will burn it all off in seconds. "Maids of honors do arrange things, but they're supposed to make the bride happy. Emily specifically said she wanted her party right here, tonight. Make your complaints to her."

"Wait, it's not Leah complaining?" the bride-to-be asks as she appears at my side and gives the bottles Rachel and I hold disapproving looks.

"Nobody's complaining, Em," Rachel assures her. "Is this the band you wanted to see?"

Any fool could see through Rachel's distaste for the trio of fools currently making "music" on the sketchy looking stage.

Emily shakes her head, snatches the bottles from our hands, and pulls us forward. "No, it's not. Kim's finally here so we can get on stage now."

I dig my heels in to the beer-stained wooden floor. "Oh no. I am not singing."

"Make the bride happy," Rachel hisses in my ear deviously, grabbing my arm and helping Emily drag me.

I roll my eyes and comply.

In the end, the fact that it's apparently Ladies Night at the bar makes things a little easier. Everyone is just drunk enough to enjoy the three Quileute girls and one Makah transplant belting out all the classic '80s Madonna songs we can remember the words too. There's no karaoke machine, so we screw stuff up royally and after a particularly raunchy rendition of Vogue, even by Madonna's low-bar standards, I'm laughing so hard I'm crying.

Best bachelorette party ever.


	5. Sack of Potatoes

**Do I own it? I think not.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a guy carrying a girl over his shoulders into the woods. Playfully, that is, not in a creepy way at all. ;)

This is just a random, any time in the timeline moment between Emmett and Rosalie.

I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **5**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Emmett, Rosalie**

Word Count: **355**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Sack of Potatoes~~~**

* * *

She's standing in the driveway beside her BMW when I decide to surprise her. I can move fast, quick, and quiet… when I want to. And I want to now.

I laugh as Rosalie's shriek rings in my ears. Almost eighty years together and I can still surprise her by doing things like tossing her over my shoulder and running off into the forest. I like it.

"Put me down," she squeals, but I know she doesn't mean it.

"You don't like me sweeping you off your feet, baby?"

"This is not sweeping me off my feet. This is throwing me over your shoulder like a sack of dirty laundry." She stops pinching me and wraps her arms around my waist instead, content to stay where she is.

"You're not dirty laundry, Rosy-posy. You're more like a sack of potatoes."

She tickles me that time, and I toss her into a bed of soft ferns. "Sack of potatoes?" she says, making no move to get back up. "That's what I am?"

I drop on top of her, catching myself above her and leaning down to kiss the tip of her nose. "I never told you what my favorite food was when I was human, did I?"

"Steak?" she guesses.

I shake my head. "Nope. We were too poor to afford a luxury like that. My favorite food was potatoes."

She grins and wraps her arms around my neck. "So calling me a sack of potatoes is a compliment?"

"Yep, total compliment." Most people would be surprised that Rosalie didn't get offended by what I called her. I'm never surprised by my girl.

She arches up and kisses me quick. "Well then, monkey man, what's for dinner?"

I balance on one elbow and thoughtfully stroke my chin. "I do like potatoes."

She smiles and knocks my elbow out from underneath me so I'm lying right on top of her. "Just so happens I know where you can get all the potatoes you want." She laughs loudly and shakes her head. "That doesn't even sound sexy, it just sounds wrong. Kiss me, okay?"

That I can do.


	6. Son of a Preacher Man

**No ownership claimed.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a castle surrounded by a moat. This takes place anywhere you please on the _Twilight _timeline. Here's hoping you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **6**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Esme, Carmen, Carlisle, Eleazar**

Word Count: **394**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Son of Preacher Man~~~**

* * *

"Show off."

Carmen and I snicker at Carlisle's muttered words, but Eleazar only shrugs as if it couldn't be helped.

"I can't help it if I was the second son of royalty," he says, "and you were merely the only son of a poor preacher."

There's a murky green moat around the stone castle where Eleazar spent his boyhood in northeastern Spain, and it's all a magnificent site. I might have called him a show off too, if Carlisle hadn't beaten me to it.

"Show off," Carlisle repeats, smirking.

"Oh, _querido amigo_, I am sorry we can't go see the place you grew up."

"It burned in the Great Fire of London in 1666. I do know that." He tries to scowl but ends up laughing. "What can I say, friend? You've got grander tastes than I. This castle, Volterra, your little kingdom in Denali—I keep things simpler."

"That kingdom in Denali? I am not the king. You have met the sisters, haven't you?"

Carmen swats him. "Be nice to the girls. Show us if it looks the same as it did so long ago."

"You didn't grow up in a castle, did you?" I ask her as we walk across the reconstructed but very convincing drawbridge over the moat.

"No. I wish," she laughs. "I grew up on a sheep farm. I was supposed to marry the miller in our village. I married a vampire priest who grew up in a castle. That's all."

"I'm a farm girl too, so we're united it that."

Eleazar steps to the side to let us go in first. "I'm not a vampire priest, _mi amor_," he corrects her. "I was a priest and then I was vampire."

I can't help the giggle that escapes me, and she's clearly thinking the same thing because she giggles too and links her arm through mine. "A vampire priest would be a very strange thing," I announce. "Why aren't there any vampire priests?"

Carlisle sighs loudly and gestures over his shoulder toward the water. "You're talking to the son of a minister and a former minister, you know. But we're vampires now, so we wouldn't be opposed to pushing you in."

I bite my lip to try and seem serious. "Go ahead and try," I dare him as Carmen and I dart into the castle. "You'll never catch us!"


	7. Moving Heaven and Earth

**Je ne possède rien de tout cela. **(Google Translate tells me that means "I don't any of this in French.")

**A/N: **The picture prompt was what seemed to be a man walking along a rainy forest path. So I put this flash in the timeline after Bella's birthday part. Dun, dun, dun…

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **7**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Alice, Jasper**

Word Count: **354**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Moving Heaven and Earth~~~**

* * *

Jasper has been walking for hours when I finally catch up with him on the muddy, rain soaked path near the Hoh Valley Ranger Station.

"Surprised I'm so close to humans?" he asks when I fall into step beside him.

"Don't do that," I scold him.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't think I don't trust you or that I blame you for what happened. You didn't hurt Bella. Even if you had hurt her, I would still love you with every fiber of my body, mind, and soul."

He stops walking and steps in front of me. "Even if I killed your best friend?"

I nod firmly. "Even then."

He starts walking again, slower this time and I know I've convinced him that I would never give up on him. "I just wish I could have the control of the rest of you."

I link my fingers through his and squeeze his hand. "I wanted to kill her. Esme left before I did. Emmett would have wanted to kill her if he wasn't distracted by making you leave. And Edward, well, he always wants to kill her." I stop walking, pulling him to a stop beside me. It's been hours since the birthday party went all wrong and a thought just occurred to me. "What did Edward say when he came to find you last night?"

"You didn't see?"

I shake my head.

"He said pretty much what you said. He said that the way he figured it, I felt everyone's desire for her blood. He said he thought that, especially his desire, made it worse for me. And that his reaction to my thirst didn't help things. He apologized," he pauses there pulls me in to his chest, "he apologized and then he said it's why he has to leave her."

I whimpered a little, but he held me tightly. "Do you think he'll ever go back to her?"

"Mm-hmm," he hums against the top of my head. "I do. If he loves her, like I love you, he'll move heaven and earth to fix this. Somehow."

"Soon," I whisper. "For all of us."


	8. I Need A Drink

**Én nem a saját sem a **… which means "I don't own any of this" in Hungarian. Thank you, Google Translate!

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a row of martini glasses on a bar. The timeline? Bella and Edward's wedding. Enjoy!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **8**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Sue, Mrs. Newton, Billy, Seth, Charlie**

Word Count: **349**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~I Need a Drink~~~**

* * *

I intended to get champagne but the martinis have more alcohol in them so I ask the white shirted bartender for one of those.

"Such a beautiful wedding, isn't it? But Bella and Edward are so young. I didn't know you were friends of the Cullens." Karen Newton apologizes for startling me and asks the bartender for her own martini. "I haven't seen much of you in town either. I'm so sorry about your husband's death. Is that why you haven't been in town, Sue? Do you need anything?"

I blink and try to resist the urge to mumble something and run away. "I'm, uh, Charlie's date," I say, knowing that answering her will result in the least amount of gossip about me. "I quit at the hospital so I could work full-time at the La Push clinic. Thank you for you condolences, the flowers you sent were beautiful, and I'm doing okay. I have everything I need."

I almost kiss Reverend Weber's wife when she distracts Karen, offering me a wink as the two women walk away. I don't kiss her, I just down the drink the bartender put in front of me in a single swallow. Feeling a little woozy, I make my way back to Charlie, Seth, and Billy.

"I thought you were getting champagne," Billy says, irritating me.

"I, um, got a martini instead." I scowl when he gives my hands a pointed look. "I drank it, alright? Leave me alone."

"You okay, Mom?" Seth asks warily.

"Yep, fine. There's nothing to worry about. Is there?"

He shrugs. "Jake's in the woods. He'll probably come out soon enough. But Sam's watching him. It'll be fine, Mom."

I really wish I had my son's confidence in the inherent goodness in the world but I don't. I never have and I never will.

"Come on, Sue," Charlie says, tugging on my elbow. "You look like you could use another martini and I know I sure as hell can. Let's get a drink and then go hide in the shadows."

I hadn't heard a better plan all night.

* * *

**P.S. **I may, admittedly, be failing in the review reply department but please know that I love any review you send. A lot of the reviews I'm getting are guest/unsigned too so I'll take this moment to thank you, whoever you are, for that! So much!


	9. When My Baby Smiles at Me

**Saya tidak memiliki apa-apa ini **… "I don't own any of this" in Malay, in case you were wondering. Shout out to Google Translate!

**A/N: **The picture prompt is a girl and a boy holding hands, wearing jeans and sitting next to each other. I thought a little Alice and Jasper would do nicely here. No specific place in the timeline. Enjoy!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **9**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Alice, Jasper**

Word Count: **376**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~When My Baby Smiles at Me~~~**

* * *

"I love this movie."

"I know," Jasper whispers as he links his fingers through mine. "You're dancing again."

"I'm sitting down," I pout teasingly, "so how can I be dancing?"

He points to my twitching feet and drumming fingers and grins.

I shrug and turn back to the screen. It had taken a lot of work to recreate the first movie Jasper and I ever saw together. With everything going digital, drive-in movies were getting fewer and further between. Finding one that was showing the 1948 Betty Grable film _When My Baby Smiles at Me _was even more complicated. Add to that the fact that it was only being shown in sunny San Diego, and we almost gave up the yearly anniversary tradition.

But Jasper suggested we just drive there then hide out in the wooded area behind the park for the day and I saw it all work out perfectly.

I lean my head on Jasper's flannel covered shoulder when Bonny and Skid reunited on Broadway. "What are we going to do when there aren't drive-ins anymore?"

He rubs his hand over my denim covered leg and kisses my cheek before he reaches behind into the backseat of the car. "We'll just have to make our own drive-in," he says, dropping a brightly wrapped flat box in my lap.

I let go of his hand and ripped the paper off, shocked that he had actually managed to surprise me. Inside the box I find three spools of film. I look at him curiously.

"It's a copy of the movie, silly girl," he laughs. "As long as we keep the film in good shape, the projector in working order, and have a white sheet to hang somewhere, we can go to the drive-in to see our movie every year."

I hope off my seat and onto his lap, leaving the film behind. I straddle his lap and cheek to his. "I love you, cowboy. So much."

That was part of tradition too, something I told him the first time we saw the film and something I'd tell him the last time we saw the film. It was the first time I ever told him I loved him, and it wouldn't be the same without doing it.


	10. Just the Two of Us

**Nie mam nic z tego**… "I don't any of this" in… Polish!

**A/N: **Picture prompt was a well, so I made it a wishing well and set Edward and Nessie some time after _Breaking Dawn_. Hope you like!

P.S. Totally adore all of the reviews you're leaving! xoxo

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **10**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Edward, Nessie**

Word Count: **486**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Just the Two of Us~~~**

* * *

"Hurry, Daddy, hurry!"

I jog at a slow pace after my daughter so she'll think she's far ahead and that I have to hurry to keep up. Doing things that way makes her smile. "Did you run away from me, Renesmee Carli Cullen?" I ask with as much as fake sternness as I can muster.

"No, you knew where I was going so I only ran ahead," she says sweetly. "Look, Daddy, it's a well."

"It's a wishing well," I tell her, noticing ancient Celtic carvings on the stones that surround the well. "Do you know what that means?"

She shakes her head and waits for me to explain.

"In ancient folklore, they believed there were powerful spirits living in water or that water was a gift from the gods because humans can't live without it. So the people back then believed that if you dropped a coin in, to pay the gods and thank them for their protection that they might grant a wish you make when you drop the coin."

She considers this quickly, and I hear her thoughts debating whether she needs to ask me for a euro coin or if the American coins she has in her Armani Kids purse, a gift from Aunt Alice, will work.

I hold out a euro. "You've got a wish to make?"

She nods solemnly. "Please try not to hear my wish, okay?"

I nod just as somberly and walk a few paces away so she can be alone. Coming to visit Siobhan, Liam, and Maggie was one of the best ideas Carlisle talked me into in a long time. Nessie loves it here and she's fascinated by the history of the place. Bella and Maggie are fast friends. And Jacob stayed home so I get time with my girl. That's the best part of all.

"Hi, Daddy," Nessie says as she flits to my side. "Do you want to make a wish?"

"All my wishes and hopes and dreams have come true. I'll make a wish just before we leave. Maybe we'll go kiss the Blarney Stone."

She giggles and climbs up to sit on my hip. "Do you know what I wished for?"

"You asked me not to listen so I didn't."

"I'll tell you. You just couldn't _hear_ me make the wish, that would jinx it."

I nod as if that's the rule. "Of course, I forgot that part."

"That's okay, Daddy." She kisses my cheek and nuzzles against me. "I wished that you and me could go on a trip once a year for a few days, just the two of us. That's what I wish."

I turn and walk back to the well, a euro in my palm. I have to make the same wish right away. Maybe we'll double our chances of making it come true.

Nessie smiles knowingly just before I close my eyes and toss the coin it.


	11. Two Kangaroos Boxing

**Nechcem nič z toho** … I don't own any of this … in Slavic!

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a group of people in a battered old car that looked to be in the desert. Writing about sparkly vampires, I got crafty, I think, and wrote this up to fit after _Breaking Dawn_.

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **11**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Rosalie, Kate, Emmett, Garrett**

Word Count: **355**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Two Kangaroos Boxing~~~**

* * *

Come on, let me drive," Garrett whines as Emmett hits the gas and the slightly ratty old Land Rover with a newly souped up engine flies down the dirt road.

"Nothin' doin'," Kate says to him from her spot beside me in the backseat. "If you've been too good for cars for since they were invented, you don't get to drive."

He turns in the passenger seat and stares at her. "You just started driving, didn't you?"

"Yeah, right. My first car was a 1910 Prince Henry Vauxhall, the first sports car ever. You see, I haven't always just seen humans as a food source. They give you strange looks of you suddenly appear in the middle of a store."

"Or a bar when you're in search of a man," I add, grinning when she nods firmly. "Are you going to learn to drive, Garrett?"

"I'm a vampire, I'll be good at it. I don't need to learn." He leans and pokes Emmett's shoulder. "Come on, man, be a brother and let me drive."

My man shook his head. "Nope. Rosalie spent a lot of time redoing the engine on this car and I spent a lot of time putting it together. We're carefully keeping ourselves hidden in the Australian outback. I can't have you wrecking the car and all of us walking away without a scratch."

Garrett pouts some more but we all ignore him.

We're all made oddly bold by mostly surviving the confrontation with the Volturi. That boldness led the four of us to a trip through Australia, a place that's mostly barred to vampires who sparkle in sunlight. But the outback is sparsely populated and once decided on a route, Alice told me everything would be fine if we were careful and stuck to the plan.

We all jump as Emmett veers off the road and into the brush. "Check it out," he pretty much shouts. "Kangaroo!"

We've all traveled, studied, read, and experienced more than most people can understand but it's nice that the four of us are totally transfixed by the sight of two kangaroos boxing in the distance.


	12. Unromantic Rendezvous

**Jag äger inte något av detta **… which would be "I don't own any of this" in Swedish. Oh, and last chapter was in SLOVAK, not Slavic. My bad.

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a flight of stairs in what appeared to be a subway station but alas Stephenie Meyer's imaginary people live near Seattle which is without subways. The bus station will have to do. I've got a soft spot for Leah and Demetri, so please do enjoy this between them post-_Breaking Dawn_.

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **12**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Leah, Demetri**

Word Count: **396**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Unromantic Rendezvous~~~**

* * *

The cop at the bottom of the stairs in the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel is watching me closely. I'd probably watch me closely too. After all, I'm dressed in flip flops, a torn denim skirt, a stained t-shirt, and I'm soaking wet. If anything says drug addict hanging out in a bus station waiting for a score, it's that.

Demetri has exactly three minutes to get here, not kill anyone, and kiss me before I'm high-tailing it out of the place. It smells like mold, pee, cigarette smoke, and exhaust fumes. Even my super-secret vampire boyfriend is not worth this.

"Did I keep you waiting?"

I jump and spin into his arms. "I was about to leave. You weren't hunting, were you?"

"I hunted in Utah, a man I saw beating his wife badly. Don't worry."

I accept that and lean away from him to see what he's wearing. Mercifully for everyone, he's left his circa 1812 robe and suit behind but he still looks out of place. "Really, leather jacket and black pants? Now you look like a Russian mobster pimp and I look like your drugged out girl who only makes a few bucks a night."

He shakes his head and pulls me in for a kiss. "Did you rent a hotel room?"

"Hmm," I hum, wishing we could just kiss instead of talk. "The clerk was very confused by the fancy credit card in my hands. I think she almost called the police and reported a theft."

He grabs my hand and pulls me gently up the second flight of stairs. "So long as she didn't, we're fine. What do you say that we go back to the hotel where clothing is entirely optional for a while and then we take the credit card and buy us both more appropriate clothes?"

"I say I like that idea." I glance at him and sigh. "You sure you're not just my sugar daddy because no one else in the world has ever had a shape-shifting female wolf for a girlfriend?"

"There is that, Leah," he teases, "but I do love you, honestly and truly."

I can get used to this romantic fawning and flattering, even if I do feel a little bit like Julia Roberts in _Pretty Woman_. "Love you too, bloodsucker," I say, kissing him as we step back into the rainy Seattle streets.


	13. Believe in the Supernatural

**Ek het nie enige van hierdie**… you know the drill, I don't own any of this in Afrikaans today!

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a girl sitting on a bed in an oversized sweatshirt and what appeared to be no pants. So Embry gets a girl and Angela gets a Quileute boy. Enjoy!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **13**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Angela/Embry**

Word Count: **379**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Believe in the Supernatural~~~**

* * *

I pulled his sweatshirt over my head and tucked my bare legs beneath me on the bed. I'm not supposed to be where I am right now. I'm supposed to be the good girl, not the girl who has random sex with random guys. Maybe everybody was wrong.

But Embry Call isn't really a random guy. I've known him since I was six. This is just the first time I was taking pictures of First Beach and ended up naked in his bedroom.

"I'm sorry," he says, dropping to the floor across the room.

"You didn't force me, Embry. There's nothing to apologize for. I wanted this too."

He doesn't lift his eyes to meet mine. "Okay, but are you sorry we did it?"

I take a minute to think about that. I owe it to myself and to him to be honest, as honest as I possibly can be. "No," I say finally, firmly. "I'm not sorry. Are you?"

He shakes his head and reluctantly lifts his brown eyes to look at me. "No. I've liked you for a long time but I never thought the bastard reservation kid had a chance with the pale face minister's daughter so I never even talked to you, really."

I bite my lip in a vain attempt to keep from smiling. "So what changed?"

He takes as long to answer as I did. "Well, to be honest, a lot has changed. I got older, smarter, and better looking," he says, laughing before he turns serious again. "But I have to ask you an important question and I need for you to promise to hear me out. Once I've said everything I have to say, you can do whatever you need to do and I will do whatever you need me to do. Okay?"

It all sounds very ominous, but I nod. For some reason, one I'm not totally sure I understand just yet, I care about Embry Call enough that I know my place is with him.

He stands up and walks over to sit beside me. He can't look at me that way. "Do you believe in the supernatural, Angela? Vampires and werewolves and all that?"

The story he tells me is hard to believe… but I believe every word.


	14. Vinyl Shminyl

**Don't own it…don't own it…**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was someone's hands sorting through vinyl record albums. So I did what anybody who thinks _exactly_ like me might do and gave the Cullen brothers some bonding time. It's actually one of my favorites of all the prompts I've done this wrong. Maybe my favorite. Hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **14**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Emmett, Edward, Jasper**

Word Count: **378**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Vinyl Shminyl~~~**

* * *

"You're dressed way too preppy to be in a store like this."

Edward glares at me and keeps flipping through the rows of vinyl records that stretch as far as the eye can see.

"Come on, man, let's go buy stuff on iTunes or something."

"Emmett, I spent an hour in the adult bookstore," he says through his teeth, "so the least you can do is spend an hour in the record store."

I look to Jasper for help but he only shrugs and pretends to be really interested in some trippy, flower child type album covers. "Fine, man," I agree reluctantly, "but you do know that no one listens to vinyl anymore, right?"

"Not true," Jasper pipes up, apparently deciding that siding with Edward is the way to be a traitor for a day. He gestures over his shoulder at a display of recently released vinyl albums by coffee shop indie type bands.

Not my type of music, but he's made his point. Sort of, anyway, since Edward's looking at the used albums. "Fine, whatever. You still have a turntable?"

"Obviously," he says, perking up as he pulls a Bob Dylan album from the pile. "I don't have this."

Jasper grabs his chest dramatically, and then leans to look at what it is. "_The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan_? For one thing, there's actually some recorded music you don't have? For another thing, you like Bob Dylan? I may like you even more now."

"Probably not as much as your wife does," I snicker.

They both ignore me and Edward answers the questions. "There is music I don't have and Bob Dylan is a music icon."

"So you don't really like him," he presses.

Our little brother, in years and sexual experience, shrugs and starts looking for more. It's clear to all that he doesn't really like Bob Dylan.

"Alright then," Jasper says, "since you just want it to be owned by someone near you and you aren't going to listen to it, I like Bob Dylan. Give it to me for Christmas. I'll even let you keep it with the rest of your collection."

That's apparently amenable to Edward because they shake on it and I shake with the excitement of getting to go somewhere more, well, exciting.


	15. Ghostly Goodies

**Wouldn't be writing this if I owned it. Duh.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a cup of hot chocolate with vaguely ghost-shaped marshmallows in it. Yummy! I figured Emily bakes so bada-bing bada-boom… here you go!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **15**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Emily, Sam**

Word Count: **356**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Ghostly Goodies~~~**

* * *

Sam reaches for the cup of hot chocolate but I swat him away before his fingers reach it. "After I take the picture," I say, "that's when you can have it."

He sits across the table, scooting to the side when I wave him over. "Can I ask why you're pointing the camera at the hot chocolate but not taking a picture?"

I snap a picture and then three more because four is my lucky number and I want to make sure I got my shot, and smile at him. "I wanted to wait to take the picture until the marshmallows were melted just enough." I push the flowered mug toward him. "It's all yours."

He takes it and looks at the marshmallows. "Ghosts? I'm guessing this is for the Halloween, fall section of your new food blog?"

"Yep." I put the camera down and stirred the orange icing I'd put together for my jack-o-lantern cupcakes. "Oh, did I tell you that my blog is being featured on the Food Network's _Foodie Blogs To Follow_ list in October?"

The hot chocolate is forgotten as he comes around, sweeps me off my feet, and swings me around in a circle. "You didn't tell me that, Emily. I'm so proud of you!"

I wasn't so proud of myself until he said he was proud of me. Before he said it, it was just a part of work. When he said it, I accomplished something and that felt amazing. When he puts me back on my feet, I grab my bowl and give the frosting a few quick whisks. "Do you want to help me?"

"Absolutely." He downs the hot chocolate, rinses the mug, and turns back to me. "Give me orders and I will do them."

Over the next two hours, he helps me arrange the cupcakes, washes the dishes, and eats ten of the twelve cupcakes I made. I'm bragging when I say they're delicious, but they are, and if I ate more than two of the cupcakes or anything else I bake, I'd be bigger than my house.

Sam is helpful in all sorts of ways.


	16. Jacob is an Ass

**Do. Not. Own.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a girl standing in front of a wall map that was covered in pushpins. My story takes place well after _Breaking Dawn _and shows a way that all might not be roses and butterflies for half-vampire girl and the boy who imprinted on her. I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **16**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Jacob, Nessie, Edward**

Word Count: **434**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Jacob's an A** ~~~**

* * *

Nessie has been staring at the map she taped to the wall for an hour. I'm getting bored. She knows I'll follow her anywhere in the world. I just want to know where we're going.

"Stop being a jerk and tell me where you want to go," she snaps impatiently.

"I told you I'll go anywhere you want to go and I mean it. As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy." I duck when she throws a box of pushpins at my head. "What?"

"Jacob Black, I swear to all that's holy that I'm going to run out of this room right now, go find Nahuel, and take _him_ on a trip if you don't knock it off and put a pushpin in the damn map!"

I jump to my feet, bristling at the mention of the Amazonian hybrid that I know she's been exchanging letters with. "No, you're not. You cannot go to the Amazon, Renesemee Cullen."

"I can go wherever the hell I want and you can't stop me!" she hisses. She flies across the room, snatches the pushpin box, takes out a red one, flies back to the map, and jabs the pin into the center of the Amazon. "See you in a few weeks, Jake."

It takes me a second to pick my jaw up off the floor before I thunder down the stairs after her. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, Edward had caught her before she left the house and he held her struggling in his arms. "What in the world is going on?" he demands.

"Jacob's an ass," she huffs. "I want to go see Nahuel."

I can see the relief and wariness warring in his eyes as he watches me. "I heard the argument," he says eventually. "Jacob, as much as it pains me to say this, stop being an ass and pick a place to take her on a trip. Be a man and take your, I can't believe I'm saying this, take your woman on a trip that you pick and plan, she'll like it because you like it. That's all that matters. She may be yours forever and she may already know that, but that doesn't give you a pass on life."

I can't believe he said it either, but by the softening in Nessie's fight, I know what he said is true. So I nod once and start back up the stairs. I want to see the MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle race in Le Mans, France. I stab a yellow pushpin into Le Mans and grab the laptop to make the arrangements.


	17. What I'll Do For A Girl

**Not owning this.**

**A/N: **Wasn't Ben Cheney cute in _Eclipse_? Yeah, I thought so too. That's why when I saw the picture prompt of roller skates at a roller rink I thought of him. Such things led to a double date between Ben Cheney (the voice of the story) & Angela Weber and Jasper Hale & Alice Cullen. Cool, right?

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **17**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Ben, Angela, Alice, Jasper**

Word Count: **345**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~What I'll Do For A Girl~~~**

* * *

_Morning_

Somebody told me once that a sign of how much you like a girl is how stupid you're willing to look in public to make her happy.

I like Angela Weber a lot, a whole lot.

I must, considering that I agreed to a roller skating double date with Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale.

For one thing, I'm almost a foot shorter than my date. The fact that I have roller skated all of one time in my life means I will be clinging to Ang for dear life. This will result in my looking slightly larger than her little brothers but still like a girl taking a little brother out because her parents made her. Horrifying.

For another thing, Alice Cullen is kind of strange and, more importantly, Jasper Hale scares the living daylights out of me.

I think I've talked to him all of twice but that very significant fact remains. Terrifying.

_Night_

So I roller skated.

My knees hurt, my ass aches, and my pride took a serious blow when a six year old showed me how to do swizzles… whatever the hell those are.

On the plus side, because there totally is one, Angela is totally more into me now. Sucking up really does work wonders.

Alice Cullen and Jasper Hale weren't even so bad.

Actually, he looked as thrilled to be there as I was. Not at all, I mean. He didn't fall on his ass, though, so that sucks a little bit but he's not all that terrifying when he's not in school. Weird.

The way Alice looks at him, like she's just in awe that he's in her life? That's the way I want Angela to look at me, one day.

Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll happen.

Either that or she'll get creeped out about the way I look at her.

Optimism, that's what my philosophy is so I'm not going to dwell on that second option.

Any way you look at it, we've got a double date to the movies next weekend.

Much less mortifying.


	18. She Makes Me Act Strange

Today's disclaimer is a shout-out to _**Bells. Just Bells**_who said she enjoyed my multi-lingual disclaimers so, without further ado…

**Bohužel nemám vlastní tento.**

(Czech for _Alas, I do not own this_.)

**A/N: **"Real life" sucks. Y'all know that, right? It is my excuse for the lack of review replies. I want you all to know, however, that I absolutely adore the reviews you take the time to leave for me. You really and truly do make "real life" better with your kind words and the simple fact that you send reviews.

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **18**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Paul, Rachel**

Word Count: **399**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~She Makes Me Act Strange~~~**

* * *

Something about her makes me act strange.

All my life I've been the standoffish, sullen, broody, angry one. My dad used to blame me for my mom leaving when I was eight. Maybe he still does, I don't know. He doesn't talk to me that much anymore.

I don't think he approves of me hanging around with the son of Joshua Uley, not that he's much different than Sam's father.

I cared, for a little while, but then Rachel Black came home to La Push.

I didn't mean to imprint on her. I hardly knew her at all and it was clear to everyone who knew her a little that La Push was the last place she wanted to spend her life. But I imprinted on her. I apologized to her after I explained it all but she said it was okay, that we'd figure it all out.

And now maybe we have.

Rachel yelps when I kick a pile of brown and red dead leaves at her. "What are you doing? I was trying to take a picture of the ocean."

I can tell by her laughter that she's only teasing. "Just playing around," I tell her, making sure the little box is in the right place for the next time I kick leaves at her.

She catches the small red box when it bumps against her stomach, just as I planned, and looks at me. "This isn't an engagement ring, is it? I told you not to buy that until we have more money."

I roll my eyes and point at the box. "Just open it?"

She does and holds up a little silver key. "A key to your heart?"

"Not that romantic, Rachel," I sigh. "It's a key to our new apartment in Seattle. It's not much, but it's ours. You can get whatever job you want, I'll get a job, we'll come back here on weekends, but it'll just be us."

"What about the pack?" she asks, carefully tempering her excitement.

"I'll do my part on weekends and I'll be close enough to get back if they need me. I've got my phasing under control. I just want to make you happy."

She's in my arms before I can blink. "You do make me happy, Paul, and I love you for this. Our life together is going to be amazing, I promise."

I believe her.


	19. You Can't Rule This World

**Hélas, je ne possède pas.**

(I hardly had to use Google Translate for that because I [miraculously] still remember bunches of my high school and college French classes. Three cheers for French teachers who've never been to France, teach with a Texan accent, and were born in Italy therefore asking the class how to say things in English! … Anywho … alas, I do not own this.)

**A/N: **The picture prompt was, as I'm sure you'll find out soon enough, was a creepy cemetery with fancy monuments shrouded in fog and mist. I immediately thought "Aro's got be there!" Am I right? Let me know if you like the surprise ending! (P.S. I hope the people are in character… don't say a word if they aren't, okay? Let me have this bubble, lol!)

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **19**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Carlisle, Aro, Jasper**

Word Count: **392**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~You Can't Rule This world~~~**

* * *

I realize as I stand in the shadowed gloom of the famed New Orleans cemetery that I feel a little silly.

It's the middle of the night, fog is rolling over the marble and granite monuments, and there's not a soul in sight.

It's a clichéd meeting place for vampires.

And Aro doesn't count as having a soul.

"_Ciao_, Carlisle. As an old friend, I came when you asked me to come. Your message sounded urgent. What is it that you want?"

"I need you to stop threatening my family."

He hovers near a marble crucifix that is taller than him. "I have. There has been no threat to your family since my brothers and I visited you last to see beautiful Bella."

I keep my temper and speak calmly. "Your existence is a threat, Aro."

He blinks. "You want to end my existence?"

"Yes. You can't rule this world anymore."

He takes two steps forward. "You are going to destroy me?"

"I am."

"He doesn't believe you."

Aro starts when he hears Jasper's voice and watches him emerge from the shadows. "You did not come alone, Carlisle?"

"Did you?" Renata is with him, and bad at concealing herself, but I relax minutely when I see Rosalie and Emmett pull her back and into the shadows.

"Touché, old friend," he says, "but I do not believe you will destroy me."

"I will be the final thing you see," I assure him, "but Jasper has offered to do this for me."

His milky red eyes flash to my son. "Offered? Why would you offer to kill for someone who will not do it for himself?"

"It's not killing," he says quietly. "It's the destruction of a threat. I know how to do this. I've done it before. Carlisle hasn't. I want you destroyed as much, if not more, than he does. I need to do this."

"Need?"

Jasper shrugs. "You want Alice. You can't have her. She's my mate and Carlisle is my family. We won't live in fear of you."

"No negotiating then?" he says, looking back at me.

I shake my head once and turn to Jasper. "Are you sure?"

In answer, he springs forward and dismembers the greatest threat to my existence.

I light a torch and set my old friend on fire. I am the last thing he sees.


	20. Lubbin' Each Udder Wif De Kissies

**Alas, aku ora duwe iki. **- Javanese for Alas, I do not own this.

**A/N: **The picture prompt was two people with a flashlight underneath a sheet, like kids camping in the living room. Hopefully some post-BD fun ensues…

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **20**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Quil, Jacob, Claire, Nessie**

Word Count: **397**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Lubbin' Each Udder Wif De Kissies~~~**

* * *

Imprinting means you'll do anything for the girl you imprint on.

Anything.

Think about that.

You'll move across the world for her. You'll kill for her. You'll die for her.

It's a daunting idea, isn't it?

Think about this…

You will also sit underneath a white sheet, illuminated by a camping lantern, and put on a hand puppet show for the girl you imprinted on. That's most applicable, of course, if the girl you imprinted on is small.

Claire is small and so is Nessie.

That's how me and Jacob ended up underneath a sheet putting on a puppet show for our girls.

To the little half-vampire's credit, she is an excellent actress and when they play together, Claire is absolutely convinced she's playing with another little three year old.

"You stink," Jake says in a squeaky voice, making his fingers swat at mine. "Don't you ever take a bath?"

Figuring he's decided to be the girl in our little show, based on the way he's talking, I lower my voice even more. "What a thing to say to your man! You're supposed to like the smell of your man!"

"Well, my man needs a bath, that's what I know. I like the smell of man who is freshly clean and shaved. That's what I like."

The girls are giggling so hard they can hardly breathe. I know Claire's mostly laughing at our silly voices and I know Nessie understands what we're saying and she's laughing at that. Truth be told, it's kind of hard to keep a straight face as we keep going on about who smells worse and why.

Jake's having trouble too, and that makes me feel a little better.

He is a little stinky too. The sheets are heavy, it's hot, and we both smell like the dirt we ran through earlier. Once the girls go down for naps, because Nessie always pretends to sleep for Claire's sake, he can head to his house while I take a shower here at mine.

"Dem rabbits should lub each udder now," Claire squeaks, "lub each udder wif de kissies!"

I didn't know we'd been making rabbits but I'm flexible so when Nessie cheers that she too wants to see rabbits "lubbing each udder wif de kissies", me and Jake mash our hands together and make stupid kissing noises.

I love my imprint, I really do.


	21. As Long As You Don't Sparkle

In honor of Stefan & Vladimir… **Din păcate, eu nu dețin acest lucru. **That is to say: alas, I do not own this.

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a set of wet footprints on a wooden boardwalk over bright blue water. I realized I hadn't written Charlie and Sue yet, so this was born…

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **21**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Charlie, Sue**

Word Count: **389**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~As Long As You Don't Sparkle~~~**

* * *

I stand on the small wooden dock and shield my eyes from the blazing sun as it reflects off the crystal clear water. It's easier because I'm looking down, but it's still damn bright for this early in the morning.

"Good morning, sleepy," Sue calls from the water. "You sure slept late."

I look at my girlfriend, treading water in her white one-piece swimsuit, and admire what is sort of mine. "You should've woken me up," I tell her. "How long have you been swimming?"

"Just a few minutes. Did I tell you that I love the Cullens?"

I snicker and glance around at the tropical paradise we've found ourselves in. "Fine by me so long as you're content to borrow Esme's island instead of thinking you need your own."

She laughs and lifts her body to float on top the water. "Oh no, La Push is home. This is vacation. Esme said I can come whenever I want. I'm good with that. Now come swim, unless you ate before you came out."

I move to pull my t-shirt over my head but stop. "Better look away. You don't want to be blinded by my pasty pale skin."

"As long as you don't sparkle." She flips over onto her stomach and paddles lazily through the water.

I shiver and pull my shirt off, about to jump in when I notice two perfect, parallel wet footprints on the sun-bleached wood. I look around, my cop skills kicking in, and those are definitely the only two prints. "How'd you do this?" I call out to her.

She grins and swims slowly around the dock so she's behind me. "Did you figure it out yet?" When I shake my head in frustration, she carefully places her fingers in thin but drying handprints on the wood. Somehow, and I'm sure I couldn't copy it, she pulls herself up, puts on foot directly on top of one print, brings the other leg up, and is standing next to me. "Simple," she says, kissing my cheek before she jumps back off the dock and into the water.

I get more water on the wood diving in than she did get in and out, twice.

But the prospect of playing all day in the ocean with a beautiful woman makes me forget my slightly wounded pride.


	22. Big Old Softie At Heart

**Infelizmente, eu não Inventário.** … Any guesses? That's right, I do not own this in Portuguese.

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a road in the shadow of tall, old trees. Not the most inspirational to be honest, but I thought of _Breaking Dawn _and Rosalie and Emmett, i.e the search for witnesses. I hope you like it!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **22**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Emmett, Rosalie**

Word Count: **339**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Big Old Softie At Heart~~~**

* * *

"We're going to lose her trail," Rosalie fumes as we stand under a copse of aspen trees that line a dirt road overlooking a sharp drop into the Rocky Mountains.

"Relax," I say, catching her and pulling her back against my chest. "The sun came out, Rose. She's got to hide and wait it out just like we do. Mary will be just as far ahead of us as she is now."

She leans against me but isn't quite ready to give up the fight. "How can you be so relaxed? Our family's future is on the line and we haven't been able to talk to Carlisle and Esme in days!"

I rest my chin on her shoulder and sigh. "I know, baby, but Edward talked to them. Remember? He said they're in Cairo and going to find Amun."

"What about Alice and Jasper?"

I squeeze her tightly and sigh again. "Alice has her reasons and Jasper will keep her safe. If we needed to get back to Forks right away, she'd find a way to let us know."

She turns in my arms and faces me. "You really believe that?"

I nod and rest my forehead against hers. "Don't you?"

She hums in agreement. "I just miss them, you know. And worry about them."

"Don't worry," I tease her gently, "I won't tell anyone that you're a big old softie at heart."

She laughs in spite of her worries. "Hey, I didn't say I'm worried about Edward and Bella."

"Alright," I agree. "You haven't gone totally over to the softie side of things. Secret's still safe with me."

"This is why I love you, you know," she says softly, melding her body to mine. "I love you because you can make me laugh and smile even when laughing and smiling are the very last things I want to do."

I nudge her chin with my thumb and kiss her chastely on the lips. "I never want you to stop smiling and laughing, Rosalie, because I love you too."


	23. It Matters

Anybody speak Filipino? Yes? Well then I should tell you that… **Gusto ko pag-aari ko na ito, ngunit gagawin ko hindi. **(I wish I owned this, but I don't.)

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a girl on a roof peak.

I know I've said at least once before that "that" prompt and flash fic was my favorite but I lied all those other times. Okay, not lied exactly. I just forgot how much I **_love, love, love_** this one.

I hope you do too!

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **23**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Carlisle, Alice**

Word Count: **386**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~It Matters~~~**

* * *

Alice spends too much time on the roof since she brought Nahuel to Forks and saved us all.

I catch a glimpse of her as I jump over the river on my way back from a meeting with Sam and Jacob. I jump a second time and walk the peak of the roof, stopping only when I reach her. I crouch beside her and follow her gaze to some random point on the horizon. "Tell me, Alice."

"Tell you what?"

"Why you spend so much time on the roof?" It's not what I really, really want to know but it seems like a good place to start.

She shrugs her small shoulders, and sitting up here curled in on herself she looks even smaller than normal. "I need to think."

"About whatever vision you had that sent you away from us to find Nahuel?" I press. I want to be patient but my daughter is in pain and I need to know why, I need to help her. Patience is no longer an option.

She nods but doesn't offer anything else.

"Have you told Jasper?" Her silence tells me that she hasn't. "Please tell me, Alice."

"It didn't happen," she murmurs. "Does it even matter?"

"You're sitting on the roof, sweetheart, so it obviously matters to you. Let me help you carry your burden. Please."

She lets a long minute pass before she tells me every detail of the vision she saw before she left and the flashes she saw as she traveled.

My heart breaks for her, that she had to see that and know that it might be true.

"I'm sorry to upset you," she says quickly, mistaking my reaction for something it isn't. "I shouldn't have told you how you died in my vision."

"You think I wouldn't try everything I could to save you, and die if that was the only way?" I ask firmly but gently. She just looks at me. "I know you believe that Jasper would do it because he's your mate but I would too, Alice. You're my daughter and I love you."

She sniffles twice before she starts to cry in earnest.

I pull her into my arms and I don't plan to let her go until I believe she's ready. Figuratively, I hope she never is.


	24. Staging an Intervention with Myself

Who wants to go to Finland?! If you ever need to say "I wish I owned this, but I don't" … this is is: **Toivoisin omistuksessa, mutta minä en.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was the reflection of a girl in water. So I chose someone to do some reflecting… Leah. I hope you like it.

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **24**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Leah**

Word Count: **453**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Staging an Intervention with Myself~~~**

* * *

It's time to buck up and be something.

I am something, but I need to _be_ it.

I don't want to be the angry girl everybody avoids if they possibly can. I don't want to be the sullen girl everybody pities when they think she isn't looking. I don't want to be the one on the outside looking in.

I'm staging an intervention with myself.

Do interventions with yourself work?

I don't know, but we shall see soon enough.

Step #1: Stop being the angry girl who everyone wants to avoid.

To do this, I need to channel my anger into something else. Or maybe I just need to figure out what I'm angry about. I'm not totally sure I even know anymore. If I can figure it out, then maybe I can fix it. Or not even fix it, but learn to work with it. Use it for something productive, like being a good pack beta, going to school, being the sister and daughter my mom and Seth deserve. Those would be definite good things.

Step #2: Stop acting like I want people's pity and then lashing out when they give it.

To do this, I need to learn to live with the hand that life has dealt me. So what if I can turn into a wolf? So what if the boy I had passionate but teenage love for left me for my cousin? So what if I'm the only girl who can turn into a wolf? So what if I'm fiercely protective of my family and my people? Turning into a wolf isn't so bad. It's weird, yes, but being able to find an animalistic freedom inside myself rocks. And I loved Sam, but it wouldn't have lasted. What he has with Emily will last. I'm happy for him.

Step #3: Stop standing on the outside and looking in.

To do this, I need to be a part of things. The boys in the pack might not be too keen on the idea at first, but they'll get used to me being around and involved. I know my mom and Seth will like it if I start being a part of things again. Truth be told, I was out of it before I phased for the first time. I was all about me even as a normal teenage girl. It's time to grow up and become part of the world.

That's what standing in cool, placid water and staring at my own reflection in the fading sunlight tells me. It's like meditating. I'll have to do this again and again. I like it.

I can do each of these things and I will.

I won't accept anything less from myself.


	25. Be Home Soon

**I don't own this, not a word.**

**A/N: **The picture prompt was a boy on train tracks with a sign that says _Be Home Soon_. It was hard to come up with something but I think this is fitting for the prompt…

* * *

The Twilight Twenty-Five

thetwilight25 dot com

Prompt: # **25**

Pen Name: **idealskeptic**

Pairing/Character(s): **Seth, Sue, Leah**

Word Count: **375**

Rating: **T**

Photo prompts can be found here:

thetwilight25 dot com/round-eight/prompts

* * *

**~~~Be Home Soon~~~**

* * *

Girls cry a lot. Well, at least mothers and sisters do. But I've got to tell you, the last people I'd ever expect to get all blubbery and wet are my mother and my sister.

One of them told me once, and don't tell anyone I said so but it was my mom, that Clearwater women are made from stronger stock than to get all weepy.

Odd thing is that she's a Uley by blood and a Clearwater by marriage.

Whatever.

They're both crying now and it's creeping me out.

I exchange glances with Collin and Brady, both crouched next to me on the old train tracks with small suitcases and signs written on cardboard. Their moms are both crying too but that's to be expected.

"Geez, Mom," I mutter as Kim walks around us taking pictures. "We don't even leave until tomorrow. And we're not getting on a train so why are you crying now?"

"My baby boy is leaving," she says as the other two moms nod in watery unison. "Sure you're not taking a train but you're leaving tomorrow on a bus."

That means she's going to cry tomorrow too.

Kill me now.

All we're doing is going on a tour bus with four other Native American teenage bands for six weeks. We're going to reservations to play for tribes and compete to win college money. Kim's taking promotional pictures for us, hence the railroad track posing. But it's only six weeks. And Embry's coming to chaperone us.

"Don't you trust Embry?" I ask her.

"No one trusts Embry," Leah interjects. "But you better behave for him."

I roll my eyes. "Mom, I'll be fine. We'll all be fine. I'll be back bothering you before you know it."

She sniffles some more and hugs me just as I stand up. "My baby's all grown up. You have to let me cry, Seth. It's what mothers do and I'm your mother."

I exhale deeply but patiently. "I love you, Mom," I whisper in her ear. Then, since it's in my hand and I don't know what else to do with it, I give her the cardboard sign I'd written on and posed with. It says _Be Home Soon _and it makes her bawl.

* * *

**And that's all she wrote… **this round of the Twilight Twenty-Five is over for me. I hate that it is but I adore all of you who have read and reviewed and commented and spent these moments with me. I hope I made you laugh and smile, and maybe cry. See you around! xo


End file.
